World cup 2018

[Peter]

Yes, sorry - I thought we had the last quarter-final.  I'm sure that's what it said on my RT chart but perhaps not!  Anyway - last 6 is pretty good!

[Von Broad]

Think England would be happy to be one of the last 8.
Uruguay, Brazil, Belgium and France are without doubt good teams.

So are Spain. Be they decided to go home early.

[Blazer]

Post of the day, thanks for cheering me up 

We weren't great and Colombia really were unpleasant to watch at times. A very different kettle of sushi to the honourable display put on by Japan.

Being a Swindon Town fan, I get very nervous when I watch tippy tappy football twixt goalkeeper and defenders, passing the ball backwards and forwrds amongst themselves, sometimes very close to opposition attackers. Swindon used to do this a lot and, though attacks often resulted due to the creation of space, frequently a defender or the keeper would fuck up and we would conceed. Now, I know our national team are a lot more proficient than my regular team but, so are the opposition. Sooner or later, we will fuck up and conceed. Stop passing around at the back with no sign of any urgency and GET THE FUCKING BALL FORWARD!

I feel better for that.

Here we go, here we go, here we go!

[Greenbank]

Being a Swindon Town fan, I get very nervous when I watch tippy tappy football twixt goalkeeper and defenders, passing the ball backwards and forwrds amongst themselves, sometimes very close to opposition attackers. Swindon used to do this a lot and, though attacks often resulted due to the creation of space, frequently a defender or the keeper would fuck up and we would conceed. Now, I know our national team are a lot more proficient than my regular team but, so are the opposition. Sooner or later, we will fuck up and conceed. Stop passing around at the back with no sign of any urgency and GET THE FUCKING BALL FORWARD!

To point out the obvious, it's designed to spread out the opposition so the midfield has space to play, rather than the keeper just lumping it up with the opposition squashed in the space between the half way line and their penalty area.

The reason it gets so nervy is when the midfield don't do their job and provide an easy option from the defenders. In a 3-5-2 it's a problem if Ali and Lingaard wander too far forward that it becomes 3-3-2-2 and Henderson is all but isolated in the middle, he doesn't really know how play this way. Even Maguire was getting frustrated whenever he took the ball over the half way line and had no obvious outlets.

[DuncanM]

When the midfield players you want to pass to go too high it makes life really hard. Unless you want to whack it at the CFs head and have those players try to play from the knockdown, you're stood there with the ball and no-one to pass to except a fullback who will simply give it you straight back! Meanwhile the advanced midfield and the strikers are asking for it to feet, despite there being 3 opposition players in the way!
For Liverpool Henderson gets to switch play quite a lot from winger to winger, but it needs a lot of movement to drag defenders around to create the space for the wingers to operate in.

[Von Broad]

For better or for worse, and any system never has to be set in stone for ever [as Belgium showed against Japan] , but Southgate is picking up where Hoddle left off - that is, looking to keep the ball, playing out from the back through the midfield and using wing backs as offensive options.

People have got short memories - England had years of bypassing the midfield, hoofing the ball forward, sending the target men on wild goose chases and basically achieving very little other than giving the ball back to the opposition. It was dour, predictable and got the team nowhere. And we had years of it.

It's obviously not as clear cut as that, it's not a case of we only play 'this way' and never 'that way'...but the idea, just the basic notion of looking to keep the ball and building pressure is not such a bad place to start instilling an idea of how you want the team to play.

[Greenbank]

Worth repeating every so often...

David Squires cartoons in the Grauniad are a-maze-ing:-

https://www.theguardian.com/football/series/david-squires-on

[Wowbagger]

I think that cartoon requires a level of background knowledge that is totally beyond a once-every-4-years dilettante like me.

[Von Broad]

Talking of things that are deserving of an airing every four years....

Nonsense, naffness, unpolished but somehow just simply so brilliant.

Best ever WC song big a million miles. I liked it at the time and I still do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re4aDJL3heA

[fuzzy]

Being a Swindon Town fan, I get very nervous when I watch tippy tappy football twixt goalkeeper and defenders, passing the ball backwards and forwrds amongst themselves, sometimes very close to opposition attackers. Swindon used to do this a lot and, though attacks often resulted due to the creation of space, frequently a defender or the keeper would fuck up and we would conceed. Now, I know our national team are a lot more proficient than my regular team but, so are the opposition. Sooner or later, we will fuck up and conceed. Stop passing around at the back with no sign of any urgency and GET THE FUCKING BALL FORWARD!

To point out the obvious, it's designed to spread out the opposition so the midfield has space to play, rather than the keeper just lumping it up with the opposition squashed in the space between the half way line and their penalty area.

The reason it gets so nervy is when the midfield don't do their job and provide an easy option from the defenders. In a 3-5-2 it's a problem if Ali and Lingaard wander too far forward that it becomes 3-3-2-2 and Henderson is all but isolated in the middle, he doesn't really know how play this way. Even Maguire was getting frustrated whenever he took the ball over the half way line and had no obvious outlets.

I know how the system should work- as I pointed out, I am a long suffering Swindon fan who watches week in week out, the system mainly NOT working.

I want the midfield to sort their shit out and help the defence make the system work. If they get their shit into some semblence of sorted they, and the defence, can run the opposition ragged and GET THE FUCKING BALL FORWARD!

Yup. Deffo very theraputic that is

[Greenbank]

Grass roots football goes to great lengths to try and get people playing out from the back:-
* 5-a-side where over-head height is banned and the keeper has to roll it out
* Youth football where the opposition have to retreat in to their own half for goal kicks
* Training sessions with the ball has to be passed (not dribbled) between each third

All designed to train away the long ball out from the keeper.

And then you get managers like Tony Pulis taking us back 50 years in the top league(s) by getting his teams to lump it up to the big man up front.

[T42]

According to a Swiss TV channel, Neymar has spent nearly a quarter of an hour rolling on the ground since the WC began.

[Wowbagger]

What was Geoff Hurst's first class batting average? (Sorry - not apropos very much but it suddenly occurred to me to find out if anyone knew off the top of their heads...)

[Bairn Again]

Good luck to England from this Scot 

They have a go, play the game the right way (colombia were a disgrace on apar with Uruguay 1986) and seem a decent bunch of hard working players. 

Long way to go, but they deserve any success that comes their way. 

 

[Cudzoziemiec]

Talking of things that are deserving of an airing every four years....

Nonsense, naffness, unpolished but somehow just simply so brilliant.

Best ever WC song big a million miles. I liked it at the time and I still do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re4aDJL3heA

It's a song that would have to have been sung even if there hadn't been any football, though not necessarily by New Order. Why did John Barnes not pursue a career in music?

[Cudzoziemiec]

I think that cartoon requires a level of background knowledge that is totally beyond a once-every-4-years dilettante like me.

All you need to know is to put your daps on.

[Von Broad]

Talking of Barnesy, never always consistent for England, but this is very deserving to show again.

In Rio as well.

The commentator ......"and England are amazingly in the lead"  lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0jdsPZmOWM

And if you have a spare 45mins, this is a good watch too. Top bloke. During times that weren't always easy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC3DJOsWH10

[Duckfoot1606]

According to a Swiss TV channel, Neymar has spent nearly a quarter of an hour rolling on the ground since the WC began.

I’m amazed he can still play with all that physical abuse, poor thing

A

[mattc]

Good luck to England from this Scot 

They have a go, play the game the right way (colombia were a disgrace on apar with Uruguay 1986) and seem a decent bunch of hard working players. 

Long way to go, but they deserve any success that comes their way. 

 

Funnily enough, the only Scot that I work with has said much the same thing 

[Exit Stage Left]

I do like Cantona's analysis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKwbldHLSls

[De Sisti]

There was a rather famous one by Zinedine Zidane, and in a world cup, too.  But it was less in your face and more of a chest-butt, but.

Yes, as with many footballers nowadays, the Italian player went down rather theatrically.

[Greenbank]

France, Brazil, Putin Croatia, England
France, England
Putin

[Mr Larrington]

Just watching the pundits pontificating before BEL-BRZ.  When Alan Shearer started going on about players rolling around on the floor and diving, it was pleasing to note the sheepish grin on Jürgen Klinsmann's face

[spesh]

Just watching the pundits pontificating before BEL-BRZ.  When Alan Shearer started going on about players rolling around on the floor and diving, it was pleasing to note the sheepish grin on Jürgen Klinsmann's face

I haven't the foggiest idea...*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tB7Y33VteME

<walks away whistling>


* Contains traces of LIE - I had only got as far as typing "klins" when Google's autocomplete function offered "Klinsmann diving" as the second suggestion in the list.

[Mr Larrington]

Jolly well done, you Sprouts!  Their keeper earned his cash tonight.